Chair or the like object, and support therefor



C. Gr NG June 16, 1959 CHAIR 0R THE LIKE OBJECT, AND SUPPORT THEEEFOEEile@ oct. 5, 195e 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Clifford G., Ng

.111116191959 Q NG v' 2,890,744`

CHAIR 0R THE; LIKE OBJECT, ANDSUPPORT THEREFOR Filed oct. 5, 1956 2sheets-sheet 2 i I v l INVENToR. n F ,i Q 4 Clifford` G. Ng

,37M WMA iorneys United States Patent CHAIR lR THE-:LIKE OBJECT, ANDSUPPORTTHEREFOR Clifford G. Ng, SanfMateoCounty, Calif.

#Application October 5,. 1956, Serialy No.. 614,237

4 Claims. :(Cl. 15S-191) Thisinvention relates tosupporting'meansfor -achair seat or the like object, andmore particularly-to a support iframethat can be quickly attached to parts of said object Vby snap-lockconnectingmeans, thus obviating the necessi-ty of having to employadditionalsecuring means, such .as separate clamps and bolts andl nuts,heretofore utilized for xedly securing the support frame to the object.

With respect to certain types'of chairs in which the seats are madeessentially of rattan, and which are commonly known as basket chairs, itis customary for economic reasons to have the chair seats manufacturedin countries foreign to the United States. Such chair seats vareimported into the United States, and'separate frame supportsmanufactured domestically are providedfor the seats. 'The seats and thelsupport frames are general-ly sold as unattached units, thus' leavingit to the customer to assemble a seat yand support frame. For effectingsuch assembly, it has, heretofore'been necessary to provide clamps andnuts and'boltsfor iixedlysecuring these parts together.

Summarizing the invention, it eliminates the timerequired and thenecessity of having toA perform the manual operation for securing asupport frame'to such seat with the usual separate fastening meansheretofore required.

-`For this pui'pose, a supportframe having upwardly extending ltugs isprovided, and these lugs .are of such character as to provide snap-lockconnecting means with parts of the seat or similar object. The inventionthus has as its objects, among others, the provision of an improvedsupport frame which can be quickly and easily attached to a chair seator a similar object, which is of economical and simple construction,yand which is of such character as to lend itself for ready stackingtofacilitate shipping andhandling of the same in stacked units. Otherobjects of the invention will become apparent from vthe following moreldetailed. description.

Referringfto the drawings Fig. 1 is an isometric view of the supportframe of the invention;

fFig. `2is a viewe'lookirrg'attheunderside of'a basket Qty-pe 'chairseatto which thesupport of jFig. 1A is attached, to provide the *compl-etechair; v

iFig. 3 'is Awan 'isometric-view of the assembled chair, in which thechair seat is illustra-ted in phantom lines;

Fig. 4 is an isometric View illustrating a plurality of the supports ofFig. l in stacked relationship for storage or transportation.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section taken in a plane indicated byline 5 5 inFig. l.

Chair seat 2 is of conventional construction, comprising frame membersof relatively resilient material, such as bamboo, and flexible strips ofcellulosic material, such as rattan 3, interwoven with the framemembers. The frame members include substantially parallel side rails `4which are at the bottom of the chair in its normal position, and aconcave or downwardly curved rear rail 6 extending transversely withrespect to side rails 4 and connected thereto.

Frice Support frame 7 is of very simple construction, land is adaptedfor quick connection tothe parts of thel chair seat comprising rails 4Vand V6. )It consists essentiallyfof the following parts. `Two generallyU-shaped frame members are provided. They are of-any suitable 'strongbut bendable material, preferably iron rods, but may 1be of any othermetal or tubing. vEach of these U-shaped members is bent to provide aside rail 8, ya downwardly extending forwardly inclined front leg-9,Vand -a downwardly extending rearwardly inclined rear leg 11.

Adjacent f the front end of frame 7, side rails 8 are rigidly connectedtogether in substantially parallel spaced apart relationship by atransversely extending rail -12Jof suitable material, such as iron, andwhich for strength is an angle section. VRail'lZ is iixedly securedto-railsf8 by any suitable means such as welding. At their/rearends,rails'S are desirably unconnected as such connection is unnecessarywhen the support is connected to the chair seat.

vAplurality of upwardly extending lugs is xed on support frame 7 toprovide for snap-lock connection ofsuch support to chair seat parts i or6. Two of'such lugs-lf3 areformed at the ends of transversely extendingrail 12 at the front end of frame 7; and each of these lugs 13 Vhas vaninner face 14, the respective faces l@ extending-longitudinally of thechair seat `whereby they Vare opposed-to each other. The distancebetween such faces 14-is slightly less, in the order of about'a quarterofaninch -orany other suitable short distance, than the distancelbetween -the outer sides oflside rails 4 in the normal position of-such rails before the support is attached to the chairseat.

These faces 14 are adapted to engage frictionallylongitudinallyextending side-rails 4 of the chair seat 2, as Vis shown in Figs. 2 and3; and because of the natural resiliency of such-side rails 4andthe'fact that the distance `between lug faces 14 is slightlyless thanthe normal distance between the outer sides of the side rails, lugs113will -iirmly grip such side rails in the assembled-position of the framesupport on the chair seat. Tofacilitate such gripping actionflugs 13 arebent inwardly slightly as can be seenbest from'Fig. 5.

At the rear` end of support frame `7, two additional laterally spacedapart lugs 16 are provided; being -ixedly secured to rails -8 by anysuitable means, desirably welding. Each of these lugsle` has a hook part17 extending above the support frame and facing in a direction towardlugs 13 at the front end of lsupport frarne7, and `are henceadapted toengage over transverse frame member-6 of the chair seat. lt willbe notedthat each of the. four lugsll and 16 is adjacent a top portion of alegof :sup-

port' frame 7, thus providinga strong construction` when the supportframe is attached to the chair seat; landthe four lugs are arranged inpolygonal-relationship, or in other words, they form the cornersfof apolygon formed 'byimaginary straight-lines connecting the lugs. "Thisl.polygonalrelationship'ofthelugs makes for rigidity-When -the'support-islattached to the chair` seat. Althoughfour such lugs are mostadvantageously employed in the pre` ferred embodiment of the invention,such strength factor `can be obtained by any other number of lugsgreater than two arranged in polygonal relationship, depending upon thecharacter of the object to which the support frame is adapted to beattached.

In assembling support frame 7 to the chair seat 2, this can be quicklyand easily done merely by positioning front lugs 13 over the outer sidesof rails l at any convenient location Whereat rear lugs 16 are displacedrearwardly of transverse rail 6, for example, at the location indicatedat L in Fig. 2. By merely sliding lugs -13 forwardly along side rails 4,hooks 17 of lugs 16 will become engaged over rear rail 6 of the chairseat.

It will be noted that rear legs 11 of support frame 7 are of effectiveshorter length than front legs 9. As a result, the top of support frame7 is inclined downwardly toward the rear thereof when it rests on asupport such as a oor.

Consequently, the weight of a person sittingin chair seat 2 will cause arearward thrust on the chair seat maintaining rm engagement of hooks 17with rear rail 6 of the chair seat. In the embodiment of the inventionillustrated, rear legs 11 are actually shorter than front legs 9.

However, the arrangement of the legs could be such that legs 11 arelonger, and the top of support frame 7 be inclined downwardly toward therear by increasing the angle of inclination of legs 11.

No other securing means need be provided after support frame 7 isattached to chair seat 2 in the manner described. However, if desired, ahole 18 may be formed at each end of rail 12 adjacent a lug 13 toreceive a small wood screw that can be screwed into a side rail 4 of thechair seat after assembly of the parts. Such securing with wood screwswill insure that hooks 17 will not accidentally slip away from rear rail6, which might otherwise occur should the assembled chair be roughlyhandled or when the assembled chair is moved from one location toanother. The screws are, however, not required to maintain struction ofsupport frame 7 is such as to enable a plurality of the frames to beconveniently stacked for storage,

- or shipment to a customer.

I claim:

1. A quickly attachable and detachable support for a chair seat or likeweight supporting object comprising a supporting frame structureincluding four downwardly extending legs, a first pair and a second pairof chair seat engaging lugs positioned on said frame structure with alug adjacent the top of each of said legs, each of said l'st` pair oflugs having an inner face extending longitudinally of said supportingframe structure whereby said faces are opposed to each other, said innerfaces being spaced from each other a distance slightly less than thedistance between outer surfaces of longitudinally extending side framemembers of said chair seat whereby each of said opposed faces isfrictionally engageable with an outer surface of an asosciatedlongitudinally extending side frame member of said chair seat, each ofthe lugs of said second pair being substantially hook shaped with thehook thereof facing the lugs of said rst pair, said hooks beingfrictionally engageable with a transversely extending rear frame memberof said chair seat, whereby said supporting frame structure may besnap-locked into secure engagement with said frame members of said chairseat thereby precluding the need for other auxiliary fastening means.

2. In combination, a chair seat comprising two spaced substantiallyparallel longitudinally extending resilient side frame members and arear frame member extending transversely of said side frame members; anda quickly attachable and detachable supporting frame structure for saidchair seat including four downwardly extending legs, first and secondpairs of chair seat engaging lugs extending upwardly from saidsupporting frame structure with a lug adjacent the top of each of saidlegs, each of said rst pair of lugs having an inner face extendinglongitudinally of said chair seat whereby said faces are opposed to eachother and spaced fromeach other a distance slightly less than thedistance between the outer sides of said resilient side frame members,each of said opposed faces being frictionally engaged with an outer sideof an associated side frame member, each of the lugs of said second pairbeing substantially hook shaped with the hook thereof facing the lugs ofsaid rst pair and frictionally engaged over said rear frame member, saidpairs of lugs securely fastening said supporting frame structure to saidchair seat in snap-lock fashion thereby precluding the need forauxiliary fastening means to prevent inadvertent separation of saidchair seat and said supporting frame structure.

3. A supporting frame structure Ifor rapid attachment to and detachmentfrom a chair seat which includes two resilient side frame membersextending longitudinally of said chair seat and a rear frame memberextending transversely of said side frame members, said supporting framestructure comprising a plurality of downwardly extending legs and atransverse rail for operatively connecting together said legs, first andsecond pairs of chair seat engaging lugs extending upwardly from saidsupporting structure, each of said rst pair of lugs having'an inner faceextending longitudinally of said supporting frame structure whereby saidfaces are opposed to each other, said faces being spaced from each othera distance slightly less than the distance between outer surfaces ofsaid side frame members of said chair seat whereby each of said facesmay be frictionally engaged with an outer surface of an associated sideframe member when said supporting frame structure is attached to saidchair seat, each of the lugs of said second pair being substantiallyhook shaped with the hook thereof facing said lirst pair of lugs wherebysaid second pair of lugs may be frictionally engaged with said rearframe member of said chair seat when said supporting -frame structure isattached thereto, said pairs of lugs adapting said supporting framestructure to be securely attached to said chair seat in snap-lockfashion thereby precluding the need for tools or auxiliary fasteningmeans to effect such attachment.

4. The supporting frame structure of claim 3 wherein the top thereof isinclined downwardly longitudinally rearwardly to insure secureengagement of said second pair of lugs with said chair seat rear framemember when said structure is attached to said chair seat and weight issupported thereby.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSRawlinson May 2l,

Bertoia Sept. 18, 1956

